Non-academic admission criterion of certified nursing assistant status for undergraduate nursing programs: A comparative case study.

BACKGROUND: The number of nursing program graduates does not meet the current demand for nurses. Program faculty relies on the predictive power of admission criteria to admit students who will be successful. Non-academic admission criteria, such as Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) status, should be considered to complement academic criteria. PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore nursing students' perceptions and clinical faculty of the non-academic prerequisite of CNA status as an admission criterion. First-year students' preparedness for the clinical setting, self-confidence, and anxiety in clinical decision making (CDM) was considered. METHOD: A multi-methods comparative case study design was utilized. The setting was two undergraduate baccalaureate nursing programs. Nine faculty and 54 students participated in the study. The researcher collected data through interviews with the participants, observations, document analysis, field notes, and self-report on the Nursing Anxiety and Self-Confidence with Clinical Decision Making (NASC-CDM) scale. RESULTS: Three themes emerged from the interview data: (a) student preparedness, (b) student learning, and (c) student program success. No statistically significant differences in student anxiety or self-confidence were found in the NASC-CDM scale. CONCLUSION: The investigation of CNA status could be an essential aspect of the undergraduate nursing program admission process.

Undergraduate nursing program admission criteria: A scoping review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a broad overview of literature related to undergraduate nursing program admission criteria used by faculty and administrators in the United States to predict student program success. DESIGN: A scoping review of literature. REVIEW METHODS: Review was guided by the framework for a scoping review suggested by Arksey and O'Malley (2007). DATA SOURCES: Cinahl; ERIC; Google Scholar; ARHQ; Medline; ProQuest; Sigma Literature Search. RESULTS: Thirty-five relevant articles were selected for full review, including 25 published research studies and 10 doctoral theses. Three themes emerged in the charted literature representing criteria used to predict student program success: academic program admission criteria, nonacademic program admission criteria, and admission criteria formulas or scoring systems. The traditional academic criterion of cumulative pre-nursing GPA was the criterion most commonly cited as being used to predict student success in a nursing program. No one criteria or combination of criteria emerged as most predictive of student program success. CONCLUSION: Significant gaps in the literature exist regarding standards or benchmarks for determining program admission criteria, including nonacademic criteria such as CNA status or previous healthcare experience, that adequately predict student success in an undergraduate nursing program.